400 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tbe difference in the renewal charges, there was actually a balance of about $43 per mile of track 

 per year in favor of the metal ties. With the later forms of ties the maintenance expenses were 

 steadily reduced, and with the latest forms now in use these expenses are leas than for oak ties. 

 Rusting and wear of the bolt holes have been insignificant, and it has been found that, by inserting 

 renewable tie plates between the rail and the tie, the life of the latter can be extended almost 

 indefinitely. The results of the seventeen years' experience have been entirely satisfactory, and 

 Mr. Benson closes his report with the following statement: 



I am glad to state that the result of our seventeen years' work fully confhms the favorable opinion of many 

 engineers who have specially studied the metal-track question, paiticulaily Mcssis Ch. Biicka, J. W. Post, A. M. 

 Kowalski, E. E. Russell Tratman, Ch. Lebon, and Dietler. Our results quite n^iee a l< with the favorable results 

 on some of those railways on whkb the question has been investigated extensively and with perseverance, by ghing 

 different systems a fair trial, uninfluenced by pieconceived ideas. 



On the (lotthard Railway metal ties have been in use since 1882, and the experience with them 

 has been such as to lead the road to introduce them very extensively. They now represent 70 per 

 cent of the ties in main track and 39 per cent of those on sidings, or Go per cent for the entire line. 

 The cost at the present time is $1.72 per tie, as against $1.20 for oak. If the fastenings are 

 included, the costs are $1.96 and $1.61 respectively. Adding the cost of laying, however, and then 

 deducting the value of the old material, the net result shows only $LG0 for tbe steel tie, as 

 compared with $1.60 for the oak tie. For the first year or two the expenses for ordinary main- 

 tenance of track are about the same for both steel and wooden ties, but after that period the 

 expenses become materially lower for the metal track. 



This railway has 43 per cent of its length on curves and has grades of 2.7 per cent, while the 

 traffic is heavy and includes express trains running at 10 to 53 miles per hour. In the numerous 

 long tunnels the ties are subject to rust, and last only eight to ten years, which is about the same 

 life as that of the oak ties. Elsewhere, however, the rusting and wear of the ties are so slight 

 that the ties are expected to last as long as the rails. The general result, in point of durability, 

 is that the steel ties have proved to be more economical than the oak ties. The report further 

 states that even if they were less economical, the railway would still feel obliged to use the steel 

 ties on account of the greater safety and security of the track. 



One other case may be cited as an example of the common use of metal ties on foreign railways. 

 During the years 1895-1898, about 100 miles of metal track on the Wurttemberg State railways 

 were renewed at a reported cost of about $1,750,000, in order to provide for increased weight and 

 amount of traffic. The old track consisted of 06 pound rails, 29 feet 6 inches long, with 10 or 12 ties 

 per rail, the ties weighing 114 pounds each, and being spaced 30 and 30 inches center to center. 

 The new track consists of 87 pound rails, 39 feet 4 inches long, with 16 or 17 ties per i ail, the weight 

 of the ties being 135 pounds, and the spacing 28 and 30 inches. The old track weighed 266 to 278 

 pounds per yard, while the new track weighs 408 to 422 pounds per yard. 



This report would not be complete without some reference to means of efieeting economies in 

 the use of wooden ties, as this is a matter of immediate importance to American railways. Wooden 

 ties will undoubtedly continue to be generally used in this country for many years to come, and it is 

 important that railway officers should without delay give attention to the advantages of increasing 

 the efficiency and economy of such ties by piotecting them from decay and wear. The use of 

 preservative processes to pi event decay and the use of protective metal tie plates to prevent wear 

 and disintegration under the rails may be made to effect a marked economy in the track work by 

 increasing the life of the ties, reducing the expense of renewals, and enabling the cheaper and 

 inferior timbers to be effectively used for ties. The ties so treated and protected also make a better 

 track and one which requires less work for maintenance. 



The renewing of ties is too often considered as a comparatively unimportant item in the 

 maintenance expenses, but in point of fact the average cost of tie renewals very frequently 

 exceeds that of rail renewals, and the cost also has a continual tendency to increase. The cost 

 may often be materially reduced by careful methods of checking to prevent the premature removal 

 of comparatively sound ties and by the more general use of pieservative treatment and metal tie 

 plates. It must be remembered that a road which has to renew its ties in six years is at a great 

 disadvantage as compared with another whose ties last twelve years. The former must figure into 



